12th Annual Gailan Carve Off

It's Carve off Time people! The 12th Annual Carve Off to be exact. How has it been 12 years??!! Yikes we are getting old. But also getting good at the pumpkin event. This year we had over 20 people at our house and quite a good layout if I do say so myself (even if we had to split the couches in half to make it happen). 

The Washburns were absent this year because someone (Fred?) is a little pregnant and a lot sick. We missed them but are excited for a baby cousin next May. But if you look closely in the photos you'll see someone unexpected showed up:

Wait...who is that small diapered human being in the middle? Why I believe that is Mr. Clark. Up past his bedtime. Up WAAAAAY past his bedtime. Yes, the youngest Gailan refused to miss out on the action and so was allowed to meander through the pumpkin guts and test out all of Adam's power tools and knives. Awesome. 

Really the reason he got to stay up was because when I put him in bed and cried and cried and then we heard a loud thump. Rachel asked me "can he climb out of bed yet?" and I said "oh no, he's never figured it out. He's just banging the crib against the wall but maybe I'll go check anyway". And when I walked in his room yup, no baby in the crib just a sobbing mess flipping the pages of a book by his bookshelf probably way confused about where he was and why he was alone in the dark:) So my baby now has climbing out of the bed skills. Oh joy. So he got to stay up. Later that night he did it again and I had my first experience laying on the floor beside a crib while my child dozed off and finally, finally I could slooooowly sit up and crawl out the bedroom door. 

But back to the carve off fun! Clark helped Uncle Matt...

...and posed (sort of ) for pictures in front of the pumpkins. If you are wondering which one is the Gailans prize piece, it's the uncarved one in the back:) Dana was having way too much fun chatting to bother carving and it will last much longer on our porch this way too so bonus!


The prize this year was a ginormous zucchini we have been saving from our garden (and a giant chocolate bar). The winner was the Beddards who carved that amazing pirate ship on the end. Matt and Kristen did the man with the hat and mustache. Lightning McQueen was also a close second and the fact that the McCrackens carved at all was big points for them. We loved having everyone!


Two more random photos. Our kid is weird, what can we say. And he's gonna be a lady killer.


(P.S. Saturday the Washburns came down and while Clark and Anderson were busy chasing each other with the basketball, Dana and Fred were taking apart the bottom of Clark's bed and dropping the mattress to the floor. It's just enough so he can't climb out. Hooray Uncle Fred!!)

October blues

October is one of our favorite months at the Gailan household but it's also a sad one. The weather gets colder. Our walks slowly taper off. School kicks into high gear. So we try to make the most of it and avoid the "October Blues"

The best way to start the month, of course is with General Conference. Always a favorite. This is the first time Clark has been awake during an entire session which was kind of fun but also noisy:) Here he is listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

And here he is doing what he was mostly doing during the talks - ie being super weird. 

After conference we always go for a nice long walk. Clark is finally getting comfortable on the big boy swing but is very insistent that you never. ever. stop. pushing! 

Speaking of September...wait, aren't we in October? Yeah, but I missed some wonderful aspects of September so back we go. Grandma Tina came to visit!!! It was awesome! Clark and her finally got some good one on one time and Kelli and Dana finally got a night alone. It was really a funny last minute trip up to Spokane just for one night but so worth it. We packed in a temple trip and long walks and a whole lot of sleeping in and a whole lot of good eating. We sure missed our boo though. 

Yes, this is a picture of pizza. But wait let me explain. It's the best pizza in the WORLD! Seriously. Sarah and I had it two years ago in Spokane and I've been talking/dreaming about it every since. Dana was skeptical of it's dominance but now he is a believer. It's the Flying Goat in Spokane and it's their Pear pizza. Sooooo good. 

Anyhoo, while we were away Clark played with Grandma Tina and the Ellensburg cousins. He laughed a lot and dumped a lot of food on the floor (yeah whole bag of chex right there). 

The rest of the month is just flying by. Uncle Matt accepted a job with Fred Meyers in Tri-Cities and they just sold their house on 40th so November 1st they will be eastward bound. We are devastated to lose them but super happy for the opportunity and this new mission. 

Clark will especially miss visiting Uncle Matt at Wrays (and now just because Wrays has fun kid sized grocery cart). And yes, all that stuff in his cart he picked out himself. 

When the weather does get bad we just loaf around at home. Clark is becoming much more loungey and really likes sitting on Dana's lap.



One random story for posterity. Last week the power went out in West Valley and so I get a call at 10AM from Kindercare saying I need to come pick up Clark. I leave work, go get my baby in the dark daycare center, and then since we are out already I figure I'll get my flu shot at Walgreens. While we are waiting Clark finds this display for Ricola. It has a motion sensor so when a person (or small child) walks by it goes "Riiiiiicola....". Clark LOVED it. He kept running back and forth but wasn't tall enough to always set it off so he started hunting the store for objects that he could swing in front of the display to set it off. Super cute.

And one more. This pic is a straggler from our summer of awesome. Party at the Smarts. Ahh summer!